\n\n“after being updated by a producer, Tapper fulfilled Meadows\u2019s request: He cited Chris Bentley, president of the National Postal Mail Handlers Union Local 297, which covers Kansas and part of Missouri, who told CNN that postal management \u201chas already taken out four machines in Kansas City, two machines in Springfield, Missouri, and one machine in Wichita, Kansas, that is earlier this year \u2014 under this new postmaster general.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meadows denied the claim that it was the result of the current postmaster general and said that it was an \u201calready scheduled reallocation\u201d and that there isn\u2019t \u201ca new initiative by this postmaster general.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But reports from NBC News<\/a>, CNN<\/a>, and the Washington Post<\/a> indicate that 671 machines are being taken offline under a new policy. NBC reports<\/a> that, according to internal Postal Service documents it obtained, the new postmaster general appointed by Trump in May, Louis DeJoy, is responsible for the decommissioning initiative. And postal workers say the process of taking machines out of service under this initiative began in June<\/a>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Experts on voting behavior have said<\/a> that before the pandemic, an estimated 25 percent of voters would\u2019ve been expected to cast their ballots by mail; they now estimate that 60 percent or more will attempt to vote by mail because the pandemic is discouraging in-person voting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If Meadows is claiming that a new machine removal initiative doesn\u2019t exist when in fact it does, then his promise that new ones won\u2019t be taken offline is, at best, questionable. How can the White House reverse a policy it claims doesn\u2019t exist?” <\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Meadows said that Trump is open to injecting emergency funds into the Postal Service if he can come to a fair deal with Democrats. But that contradicts Trump\u2019s admission on Thursday<\/a> that he opposes providing additional funding for the Postal Service because he doesn\u2019t want everyone to be able to vote by mail.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Trump has persistently attempted to delegitimize the reliability of mail-in voting, describing it as acutely vulnerable to fraud \u2014 without presenting evidence and despite the consensus among voting rights experts that it\u2019s secure when funded properly<\/a>.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n